Republicans, Democrats, and the Role of Government

Republicans today are often portrayed by Democrats, with the help of the media, as being cold, heartless bigots who hate minorities and only care about rich white men. Their white wives and children will share in their prosperity, but all those people of color and women who want to be like men don’t really belong here.

The Democrats are supposedly the people who are compassionate and inclusive. Their strategy is to identify any discernible demographic group that aren’t white or Christian and find a way to give that group government assistance, which not only makes that group dependent on the government but will also generate a loyal following at voting time.

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The Founding Fathers only thought it necessary to name three rights that people have to justify our country’s existence and to give it direction: life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. The Bill of Rights further identified the basic rights that Americans enjoy and that guide the policies of our country.

But the idea of rights has changed in Democratic thinking. Where before rights were limited to things you can do or things that the government cannot do to you, now they want to define rights as things that the government owes you, things that first require the government to take money from somebody else to give to you in one form or another.

As a right, it doesn’t have to be earned or achieved by the recipient; the government just needs to see that they get it.

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For the first 130 years or so of our country’s existence, we were all essentially in agreement that the government should be small with a very limited role in the lives of the people. People were eager to come here to make their fortune. Our country rapidly achieved unequaled success and prosperity by just about every criterion. We quickly became the richest, most powerful, and best- educated country in the world. It has often been noted that going to college was not common before World War 2, but that didn’t matter much in that an average fifth grader then would probably outdo the average twelfth grader today.

The social bond of the country was religion, specifically Christianity. The Bible and prayer were basic and essential parts of the public school education; and social services were essential parts of churches, where hundreds of organizations were founded to address every social need that could be found.

Shortly after the beginning of the 20th century, when communism and Darwinism were starting to gain prominence in the world, elements of collective thinking were taking root in our country. In the 1930s, when the country was in a depression, the time was ripe for a major government expansion, which is generally agreed today to have prolonged the depressed economy until the Second World War.

When religion was officially removed from our public schools and gradually from the public square, the government grew to fill the void of someone overseeing our society. But it can only offer money to people, whereas churches could offer love and accountability as well as other assistance.

And without the self-constraints taught by religion, the growth of government was also a way for those in government to personally prosper as well. The result of their attempts to help people through giving them money (and also using the money that was available for personal and political benefits) has been to create a debt load so large that the numbers are meaningless to most people. There is no incentive to reduce this debt and plenty to keep adding to it.

The Democrats give the illusion of being more compassionate because they identify specific demographic groups and do something specifically for them. At the same time, those same programs have injurious effects on our country in the long run, either by spending money they don’t have or by creating more dependency on the government, which stifles the creative independence that generates economic growth.

The Republicans, when not forced by public opinion and media attention to play the same game, focus on the bigger picture, what is good for the country as a whole rather than any one particular group. Government jobs take money out of your pocket to support them. The bigger picture focuses on freeing up money and businesses and individuals so they can start jobs and have more personal income and wealth.

The way you help the poor is to create an environment that creates jobs. That means cutting down on all the hoops and expenses of starting a business, and keeping the taxes and regulations low so that a company can afford to hire more people and pay them more money.

The poor still need to get an education, but it doesn’t help them or the country when one in four students don’t even graduate high school.

The Democrats see the government for what it can do for people. That sounds noble on the surface, but that is not the genius of our country. That kind of government requires huge amounts of money and people to oversee and manage the lives and welfare of a country. The countries that are trying to do this are broke, and standards of living diminishe as these policies continue.

It was not an enormous, all-controlling government that made our country great, but a small government that allowed people the freedom to pursue their dreams without the heavy hand of government weighing on them. This also required the influence of Christianity on the people to foster a climate of honesty, integrity, hard work, and compassion for others.

Trying to run a country without Christian principles and actions will only lead to more government control, debt, and diminished lives as seen by increasing levels of violence and poverty.

Photo credit: DonkeyHotey (Creative Commons)

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